Tsarnaev friend convicted of impeding Marathon bombing investigation

According to our news partners at WCVB, a friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was convicted Monday of impeding the investigation into the attack.

Azamat Tazhayakov was accused of agreeing with another friend, Dias Kadyrbayev, to take a backpack containing opened fireworks and other items from Tsarnaev's college dorm room.

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The Dedham Transcript

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Posted Jul. 21, 2014 at 1:43 PM
Updated Jul 21, 2014 at 2:23 PM

Posted Jul. 21, 2014 at 1:43 PM
Updated Jul 21, 2014 at 2:23 PM

» Social News

According to our news partners at WCVB, a friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was convicted Monday of impeding the investigation into the attack.

Azamat Tazhayakov was accused of agreeing with another friend, Dias Kadyrbayev, to take a backpack containing opened fireworks and other items from Tsarnaev's college dorm room.

The jury found Tazhayakov guilty on charges of conspiracy and obstruction of justice for removing a backpack from the dorm room, but not a computer.

Tazhayakov's mother sobbed loudly in the courtroom as the jury's decision was read. Tazhayakov faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison when he is sentenced in October.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Capin said Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev removed the backpack hours after the FBI released images of Tsarnaev and his brother as suspects in the 2013 marathon attack, in which two bombs exploded near the finish line, killing three people and injuring more than 260.

But Tazhayakov's lawyer, Matthew Myers, said he was a naive college kid who was prosecuted because he was a "friend of the bomber."

Kadyrbayev will be tried separately in September. Another friend, Robel Phillipos, who is charged with lying to investigators, also faces a separate trial.

Tsarnaev is awaiting a November trial and faces the possibility of the death penalty if convicted.

They all have pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors allege Tsarnaev and his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, carried out the bombings and killed an MIT police officer days later.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev died following a shootout with police the night the officer was killed. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured hiding in a boat in a Watertown backyard.